7.  The first two applicants are a married couple. They have four sons – the ninth, tenth and eleventh applicants and Mr Vakhid Vakhayevich Musikhanov, born in 1976. The latter was married to the third applicant and had four children with her – the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh applicants (the youngest child was born a month after Vakhid Musikhanov's disappearance). The eighth applicant is the second applicant's sister.
8.  The applicants live in Urus-Martan, the Chechen Republic.
9.  On 9 November 2002, at around 2 or 3 a.m., a group of armed men wearing camouflage uniforms and masks forcibly entered a private house at 6 Kavkazskaya Street, in which Vakhid Musikhanov and his family lived. Vakhid Musikhanov's sister-in-law, Vakhid Musikhanov himself and all the other applicants, except for the second and eighth ones, were inside the house at that time. According to the applicants, the men who raided their house belonged to the Russian federal troops, since they spoke Russian without an accent and were able to circulate freely during the curfew. In the Government's submission, they were “unidentified persons in masks and camouflage uniforms armed with automatic firearms”.
10.  The men, who had machine guns and torches, did not produce their identity papers or any documents justifying their actions. They ordered everyone to lie down and searched the house. Then they blocked the women in one room and forced the Musikhanov men into another. The intruders ordered the Musikhanov men to remain silent and not to move and checked their identity documents. According to the tenth and eleventh applicants, when they moved slightly, the men hit them in the face with their machine guns and kicked them with the result that the eleventh applicant started bleeding.
11.  Having checked the documents, the intruders ordered Vakhid Musikhanov to get dressed and took him away. The first applicant attempted to prevent them from detaining her son, but the men said that he would come back as soon as he had showed them a certain building. They then jammed the front door shut from the outside with an iron bar. Several minutes later the eighth applicant, who lived next door, let them out. The applicants have had no news of Vakhid Musikhanov ever since.
12.  In the morning of 9 November 2002 the applicants went to the Urus-Martan district authorities (администрация Урус-Мартановского района) and the military commander's office of the Urus-Martan District (военная комендатура Урус-Мартановского района, “the Urus-Martan military commander's office”) and enquired after Vakhid Musikhanov. They received no substantive information.
13.  According to the second applicant, he requested his distant relative, who had acquaintances at the Urus-Martan military commander's office, to obtain information concerning the detention of his son. Several days later the relative told the second applicant that Vakhid Musikhanov had been apprehended on the basis of an anonymous letter, which had contained criminal charges against him, and was allegedly kept at the Urus-Martan military commander's office. The second applicant also talked to a certain local official who confirmed that Vakhid Musikhanov was detained at the Urus-Martan military commander's office. According to the SRJI, their organisation has at its disposal the personal data of the relative and the official.
14.  Since 9 November 2002 the first three applicants have repeatedly applied in person and in writing to various public bodies, including prosecutors at various levels, the President of Russia, the administrative authorities of Chechnya, the Urus-Martan military commander's office and the Urus-Martan Town Court. They have also applied in writing and visited a number of detention centres and prisons in the Northern Caucasus. The applicants were supported in their efforts by the SRJI. In their letters to the authorities, the applicants and the SRJI referred to the facts of Vakhid Musikhanov's detention and asked for assistance and details of the investigation. Mostly these enquiries remained unanswered, or only formal responses were given by which the applicants' requests were forwarded to various prosecutor's offices for examination.
15.  On 15 November 2002 the prosecutor's office of the Urus-Martan District (прокуратура Урус-Мартановского района, “the Urus-Martan prosecutor's office”) instituted a criminal investigation into Vakhid Musikhanov's disappearance under Article 126 (2) of the Russian Criminal Code (kidnapping of two or more persons by a group using firearms). The file was given the number 61149.
16.  In the context of the above proceedings, the Urus-Martan prosecutor's office sent enquiries to heads of a number of State bodies, including the Urus-Martan military commander's office, military unit no. 6779, the Urus-Martan Division of the Chechen Department of the Federal Security Service of Russia (отдел УФСБ РФ по ЧР в Урус-Мартановском районе, “the Urus-Martan Division of the FSB”) and district offices of the interior in Chechnya. The respective officials were requested to verify whether their subordinates had ever arrested Vakhid Musikhanov and on what ground, whether criminal proceedings had ever been brought against Vakhid Musikhanov and whether any measure of restraint had been ordered in this connection. On 19 November 2002 the Urus-Martan prosecutor's office also asked the Ministry of the Interior whether Vakhid Musikhanov had any convictions.
17.  On 20 and 23 November 2002 respectively the Urus-Martan Division of the FSB and military unit no. 6779 replied that their officers had not apprehended Vakhid Musikhanov and had no information as to his whereabouts. The Urus-Martan military commander's office never answered.
18.  On 4 December 2002 and 1 January 2003 respectively the Urus-Martan district office of the interior and the Shatoyskiy district office of the interior answered that their officers had never detained Vakhid Musikhanov and that he was not among their detainees. According to the applicants, the Urus-Martan prosecutor's office informed them later that all the other district offices of the interior in Chechnya had provided identical replies.
19.  On 20 December 2002 the prosecutor's office of the Chechen Republic (прокуратура Чеченской Республики, “the republican prosecutor's office”) referred the second applicant's application concerning the abduction of his son to the Urus-Martan prosecutor's office “for investigation”. In reply, on 25 December 2002 the Urus-Martan prosecutor's office stated that criminal case no. 61149 had been opened in connection with the abduction of Vakhid Musikhanov by “unknown armed men wearing camouflage uniforms”.
20.  By a decision of 15 January 2003 the Urus-Martan prosecutor's office acknowledged the first applicant as a victim in criminal case no. 61149.
21.  On 21 January 2003 the Urus-Martan prosecutor's office notified the first applicant that the criminal proceedings instituted in connection with her son's abduction had been adjourned since the alleged perpetrators could not be found.
22.  On 3 February 2003, in reply to a query from the Urus-Martan prosecutor's office, the Urus-Martan district office of the interior stated that Vakhid Musikhanov's whereabouts could not be established and that the search was in progress.
23.  In a letter of 6 March 2003 the republican prosecutor's office informed the second applicant that the criminal proceedings in case no. 61149 had been resumed on 26 February 2003 and that the term for the preliminary investigation had been extended until 26 March 2003. The letter also stated that the republican prosecutor's office was closely supervising the investigation.
24.  On 1 April 2003 the Administration of the Chechen Republic (Администрация Чеченской Республики) referred the second applicant's complaint about the disappearance of his son to the republican prosecutor's office and a military prosecutor's office.
25.  On 3 April 2003 the Urus-Martan prosecutor's office notified the first applicant that the criminal investigation into Vakhid Musikhanov's abduction had been suspended for failure to identify the culprits, but that the search for him was nevertheless under way.
26.  In a letter of 5 April 2003 the military prosecutor of the United Group Alignment (военная прокуратура Объединенной группы войск) transmitted the second applicant's application to the military prosecutor of military unit no. 20102 (военная прокуратура – войсковая часть 20102).
27.  On 7 April 2003 the second applicant requested the Urus-Martan prosecutor's office to notify him of the latest developments in criminal case no. 61149 and to grant the status of victims to him and to the third applicant. In reply, in a letter of 18 April 2003, the Urus-Martan prosecutor's office outlined the main procedural steps taken in the context of the criminal proceedings in case no. 61149 and informed the second applicant that they had been suspended on 26 March 2003, as those responsible had not been identified.
28.  On 25 April 2003 the republican prosecutor's office, in reply to a query from the second applicant, repeated that the investigation into his son's abduction had been suspended on 15 January 2003 for failure to identify the alleged perpetrators and that the search for Vakhid Musikhanov was in progress.
29.  In a letter of 15 May 2003 the Urus-Martan prosecutor's office informed the third applicant that, although all the necessary investigative measures were being taken to find her husband and the persons who had abducted him, those measures had not yielded any results so far.
30.  On 18 June 2003 the first applicant enquired of the Urus-Martan prosecutor's office whether the second and third applicants had the status of victims in criminal case no. 61149. In a letter of 20 June 2003 the Urus-Martan prosecutor's office informed her that she had been acknowledged as a victim in the said case and therefore had a right to access the case file. The letter provided no information as to whether the second and third applicants had ever been granted the status of victims in the above case.
31.  According to the first applicant, she accessed the case file in July 2003 and found that it contained only a transcript of her interview, queries sent by the Urus-Martan prosecutor's office to various law-enforcement bodies and replies from some of those bodies.
32.  On 3 July 2003, in reply to the complaint lodged by the third applicant on 27 March 2003, the Urus-Martan military commander's office informed her that her allegations of the abduction of her husband had been investigated and that their office possessed no information concerning her husband's whereabouts, the grounds for his detention or the identities of the perpetrators.
33.  On 5 November 2003 the SRJI applied to the Urus-Martan prosecutor's office for information on the developments in criminal case no.61149 and requesting it to resume the proceedings. On 27 November 2003 the republican prosecutor's office replied that the preliminary investigation had been suspended on 26 March 2003, since no culprits had been identified, and that the search for Vakhid Musikhanov continued.
34.  Between 26 March 2003 and 9 August 2005 the proceedings remained suspended and it does not appear that there were any developments in the case.
35.  On 7 June 2005 the present application was communicated to the Government.
36.  In a letter of 9 August 2005 the Urus-Martan prosecutor's office notified the first applicant that the preliminary investigation in case no. 61149 had been resumed on the same date.
37.  Referring to the information provided by the Prosecutor General's Office, the Government submitted that the third applicant's written complaint concerning her husband's abduction had been received by the Urus-Martan prosecutor's office on 10 November 2002 and the criminal proceedings in the above connection had been instituted on 15 November 2002, under Article 126 (2) of the Russian Criminal Code (aggravated kidnapping). The investigation had then been suspended on 15 January and 26 March 2003 and 9 September 2005 and resumed on 26 February 2003, 9 August and 21 October 2005, but had so far failed to identify those responsible.
38.  According to the Government, the investigating authorities questioned the first and the third applicants on 26 November 2002 and granted the status of victim to the first applicant on 15 January 2003. The second applicant was questioned as a witness on 26 or 28 February 2003. In addition to the first three applicants, the authorities also questioned two neighbours of the Musikhanov family. It does not appear that any other witnesses were questioned in the course of the investigation.
39.  According to the Government, the investigators had on numerous occasions sent queries to various State bodies. In particular, on 19 November 2002 the investigator in charge had requested information concerning Vakhid Musikhanov's whereabouts from the Urus-Martan Division of the Federal Security Service, the military commander's office of the Urus-Martan District and the head of the temporary department of the State bodies and the units of the Russian Ministry of the Interior in Chechnya. The replies from the said agencies were received on 24 and 25 November 2005, stating that the applicant's relative had never been detained by any of them, that no special operations had been carried out in his regard or criminal proceedings brought against him. On 20 November 2002 the investigator in charge sent similar queries to various offices of the interior of the Chechen Republic. Between 20 November 2002 and 1 January 2003 he received replies identical to those mentioned above.
40.  On 26 March 2003 the investigating authorities sent queries to the head of the United Group Alignment and the military commander's office of the Russian Ministry of Defence concerning the possible implication of military personnel in the detention of the applicants' relative. The Government did not specify whether any reply had followed. They stated that the possible involvement of federal military personnel in Vakhid Musikhanov's disappearance had been investigated, but no evidence proving such involvement had been obtained.
41.  In the period between 12 and 24 August 2005 the investigator in charge also requested district and town prosecutors in Chechnya to submit information concerning unidentified corpses so as to establish whether Vakhid Musikhanov's body could be found among them. Also, between 25 August and 7 September 2005 the investigator in charge sent queries to various detention centres in the regions adjacent to the Chechen Republic as to whether Vakhid Musikhanov was listed among their detainees. It is unclear whether any of the above queries were answered.
42.  On 25 November 2002 the third applicant applied to the Urus-Martan Town Court seeking to have the whereabouts of her husband established. It does not appear that this request was answered.
43.  On 20 August 2003 the SRJI, acting on the applicants' behalf, requested the President of the Urus-Martan Town Court to inform the third applicant whether her application of 25 November 2002 had been examined and, if so, what the results of that examination were. It is unclear whether any reply followed.
44.  On 10 December 2003 the Urus-Martan Town Court, upon the third applicant's request, certified the fact that her husband, Vakhid Musikhanov, was a missing person, having confirmed that the latter had disappeared after having been abducted by “unknown armed men” on 9 November 2002.
45.  In June 2005, when the application was communicated to them, the Government were invited to produce a copy of the investigation file in criminal case no. 61149 that had been opened into the abduction of Vakhid Musikhanov. Relying on the information obtained from the Prosecutor General's Office, the Government replied that the investigation was in progress and that disclosure of the documents would be in violation of Article 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, since the file contained information of a military nature and personal data concerning the witnesses. At the same time, the Government suggested that a Court delegation could have access to the file at the place where the preliminary investigation was being conducted, with the exception of “the documents [disclosing military information and personal data concerning the witnesses], and without the right to make copies of the case file or transmit it to others”. In October 2005 the Court reiterated its request and suggested that Rule 33 § 3 of the Rules of Court be applied. In reply, the Government submitted several documents but refused to produce the entire investigation file for the aforementioned reasons.
46.  Overall, the Government submitted 17 documents, which included:
(a)  a list of documents contained in the file of criminal case no. 61149, from which it can be ascertained that the file comprised at least 132 document running to 150 pages;
(b)  a procedural decision of 15 November 2002 to institute criminal proceedings in connection with Vakhid Musikhanov's disappearance;
(c)  a decision of 15 January 2003 declaring the first applicant a victim in case no. 61149;
(d)  procedural decisions suspending and reopening the investigation in case no. 61149;
(e)  an investigator's decision of 9 August 2005 to resume case no. 61149;
(f)  letters informing the first and second applicants of the suspension and re-opening of the investigation in criminal case no. 61149.
47.  On 10 July 2007 the application was declared partly admissible. At that stage the Court once again invited the Government to submit the investigation file and to provide information concerning the progress of the investigation after October 2005. In reply, the Government refused to submit any documents from the case file other than those produced earlier and remained silent as regards the Court's question concerning the progress in the investigation.